Two Sailors Compete for National Championship

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Two members of the No. 1 Yale coed sailing team will compete at the ICSA Men's Singlehanded Championship in the Laser this weekend in Newport, R.I., hosted by Brown.

The Yale team is traditionally known as a singlehanded powerhouse, and this year proves no different, with two sailors, both freshmen, placing first and second at the New England Singlehanded Championship to qualify for nationals. This may seem like a lot of pressure for the young sailors, but Ian Barrows and Mitchell Kiss are no strangers to top-level events in the Laser.

Barrows, hailing from St. Thomas, USVI, grew up sailing many classes of boats, one of which was the Laser. He placed second at the Laser North American Championship while in high school, and won the high school ISSA Singlehanded National Championship.

Kiss trained almost exclusively in singlehanded boats throughout high school, giving him a large speed advantage over many of his competitors. Kiss is also an ISSA singlehanded national champion, along with winning the US Sailing Youth Championship twice, placing first at Orange Bowl and fourth at the ISAF Youth Worlds.

Furthermore, Barrows and Kiss have been using each other as training partners for the past weeks, an advantage many singlehanded sailors from other schools do not have. Barrows commented, "Mitchell's experience in the Laser has really helped me perfect my technique. I feel like we've both pushed ourselves to the next level."